Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@meppi64 Thanks mate. Sorry if I missed your response. Not been keeping up on threads recently as I'm a tad busy (Normal service will resume shortly lol)

@Lroy Cheers mate.

At work.

Playing Wolfenstein 2 on Switch and Fire Emblem Path of Radiance in 720p kn GPD Win 2...

Life is good

@Ralizah just started chapter 3, finding parts for the ship after getting a full party. The art style really hides any resolution drop well. Plus I'm not comparing directly to tv so it looks perfectly fine taken on its own. I imagine it has more to do with extending battery life than ability... which isn't a bad thing. It eats battery enough,but it could be worse. Frame rate seems shockingly solid. This is no "ffx on vita".... It's way cleaner.

I also see what you're saying about cinematic games somewhat. I just started Wolfenstein....20 minutes later I'm still watching a movie and have yet to touch a stick beyond one "choose left it right"moment. I just want to shoot some Nazis in the head, get the forbidden romance story into chapter two or something.

@jaxonh dang, Wolfenstein really does look amazing at least handheld which is all i tried so far. It's a good as 4k at 6"!

@NEStalgia
It gets lower res as you go further into the game. Same thing happened to me with Xenoblade 2. Only after I'd played a while did I see the lower drops.

That said, it looks good. Definitely lower res but, that one thing aside, it looks better than I was expecting. Its fully playable, and feels smooth as butter. I thought DOOM was fine, framerate wise, but this is smoother. I can turn at neck breaking speeds and it doesnt drop a single frame.

So ya, you sacrifice some fidelity to enjoy this one. But it's fun as heck playing Wolfenstein 2 at work

@NEStalgia @JaxonH Well, the performance is similar all the way through the game, except it dips extremely low in certain areas. Torigoth is probably the worst offender. If you're cool with the performance to this point, then you shouldn't have any issues with it later on.

It's interesting how subjective this sort of thing is. I thought Xenoblade looked okay to terrible, depending on where I was in the game, whereas Ys VIII looks pretty good to me in handheld mode, even though other people are seeing problems that aren't apparent to me.

Also, yeah, I watched a friend play Wolfenstein 2 on his Switch earlier, and it is insanely impressive for a portable system.

@Snaplocket I agree.

Ys VIII looks alright when docked, whereas Xenoblade 2 is absolutely gorgeous.

@Ralizah
See, I thought Xenoblade looked incredible in handheld mode, until I got to Gormott. Specifically, the scene with Pyra in the grass. That was when I was like ok, now I see what people are talking about. Before then it looked normal to me. Probably because it was a small area without moving grass, so not nearly as demanding.

GPD Win 2 though, I run everything at 720p. EVERYTHING. But it comes at the cost of low settings, at least for the current gen/late 7th gen AAA titles like Assassins Creed 4, Alan Wake, Dragons Dogma, etc etc.

It's a real eye opener though as far as Switch punching above its weight. I can get DOOM and Wolf 2 running at 30fps with the BIOS set to an under-volted 8.5 watt profile (was gonna go with 10 watts but that will kill battery for marginal gains over 8.5, and people need a ridiculous 12 watt max for Fallout 4, and even then at like 500p, which is why I know Switch cant run it). Problem is, no gyro. I like my gyro.

But ya, 720p is so gorgeous, I wish all Switch games ran at 720p like my Win 2 (I might make exception and run at 960x540 if need be but, by and large if a game cant run at 720p I just dont play it). But the fact is games like Wolf 2 simply wouldn't be able to run on Switch at that res. Which means we'd have no DOOM and Wolf2 to play on the go. And that would suck, cause these 2 games are incredibly fun for pick up and play anywhere you want, with gyro mitigating the typical handheld FPS issue of being hard to aim. I'm glad they brought them to Switch, I really am. Especially with CoD going online only since last year, and no single player as of this year. These are the best 2 FPS of the generation (and possibly ever?). It's good to know I can always bust out a Switch and play some DOOM and Wolf2

@Ralizah yeah I'm debating opening ys too and seeing which i want to finish first

The steady frame ready is great in Xenoblade though. Must vita games had pretty jittery frame rates. Worst game on switch for that is Fe. I regret getting that even for 10. Constant low frame rate makes it kind of nauseating after a while of spinning, and it eats battery with a searing cup warmer if a switch.

I'm usually sensitive to minor graphics issues creative wired edges or noise, but with the art style being kind of water color like, it stays clean looking as long as the frame rate stays smooth, which it does. If this were fallout, yeah the res drop would be painful with that photo realism.

There's going to be a lot of salt if a 3DS successor actually happens especially judging by the recent Nintendo Life article.

Games that are very stylized and stick around 600p are okay for me. Mario + Rabbids is never native res in handheld mode, but it still looks really good. I think Xenoblade would be OK if it utilized the extra power draw of games like SMO and BotW to at least stay around that target. It would have been a nice option to have. I'm kind of hoping we'll get a boosted Switch in a few years that'll allow for the worst performers in handheld mode to improve their overall performance.

@NEStalgia Yeah, low framerates are a killer for me. Thankfully, all of my Switch games have been OK so far in that regard. Xenoblade 2's framerate dips a bit at times, but never to the point where it makes combat hard to manage, and only for a second or two.

Nights of Azure 2, though... just yikes. I was looking forward to it, too.

Ys VIII is a ton of fun so far. It's no Xenoblade 2, but I think it's a good time.

I actually think that Xenoblade 2 looks pretty dang good in handheld mode, but the low resolution does hinder it. Then again, I take every opportunity to shill for it so take that with a slight grain of salt. Ys VIII definitely looks sharper in handheld, though the details are missing. Ultimately though, most people would say that Ys looks better. Xenoblade also has some framerate drops whenever you do a ton of Specials at once or when you're hitting a bajillion enemies with Specials. Fortunately Xenoblade is much more slower-paced than Ys, which actually doesn't drop much frames so that's good.

Speaking of, though, Ys is so much fun. I've pushed aside a lot of the Bayonetta comparisons I initially did to accept it as its own thing and it's been pretty addicting. I needed another great RPG after Xenoblade, and this is hitting the spot pretty well.

@Ralizah yeah, but Odyssey and botw EAT battery, which probably isn't what you want in a game that it takes 5 minutes just to walk from one end of one map to the other and features endless grinding for random gear

Speaking of which navigation in xc2 remains kind of annoying like all xc games. The map kind of sucks and waypoints on the radar are confusing more often than not. The side quest volume demanding finding x number of random drops is annoying too....i feel like skipping most side quests again

Hmm to plug on with xc2 it give ys a spin... Hard call

I would like to see that quote. I am quite sure they only used corporate words like "flexibility" and "synergy" when they merged.

And yes, the next handheld would be basically the same as switch internally. But don't expect the same chipset, they have lots of alternatives thanks to the mobile market.

Also, the ds approach has been successful, so I wouldn't be surprised if they continue that. Especially since it would be more distinct from their home console.

Is Nintendo really going to go there and split their attention between two systems again? Especially when a new Pokemon, a franchise that has never had core generations split across different platforms, is coming both this year and next year?

Both Sony and Nintendo proved that upkeeping two devices in modern times is a difficult task. When Sony went all-in with the PS4, it was a big success.

Same for Nintendo. And people forget that Nintendo is trying to diversify themselves too, what with that Mario movie, theme parks, and such. Times are changing and what we expect with a new dedicated handheld is not always going to happen.

@EvilLucario Let's be honest, the only reason the PS4 is a successful console was Don Mattrick's approach to XB1. Now we're seeing the Sony equivalent of the Don Mattrick XB1 situation (the Fortnite and crossplay controversies), PS5 will likely be the new PS3.

@Grumblevolcano Certainly a big reason, but the PS4 was also getting some games that swayed a lot of people, starting with Bloodborne to God of War.

Due to how those games needed big budgets to really wow people, having a downgraded version on the Vita didn't appeal to much people, feeling a bit unneeded. That's something else that would have hurt the Vita honestly, battling perceptions of what's expected and delivering.

So well over a year after it came out?

@Knuckles-Fajita I mean, this generation took a LONG time to really get rolling. Honestly the Wii U was a far better system than the Xbox One and PS4 until 2015 when PC plays all of the third-party games at 60fps.

@EvilLucario it was a run away success before those games. Sony managed to make the PS3 a success despite their awful launch and people are (generally speaking) loyal to companies. Especially when the competition isn't that different. The devil you know...

There is a reason they are all trying to differentiate themselves from the competitors with must have functions, VR, portability, cloud, Kinect etc.

@Grumblevolcano That's like saying that the only reason the Switch is successful is because it's the only handheld device on the market. Sure it plays a role, but you're ignoring a lot of other factors.